On May 23, 2005, Executive Order 429 was issued, moving the province of Palawan to the region of Western Visayas,[5] designating Region IV-B as MIMARO. However, Palawan residents criticized the move, citing a lack of consultation, with most residents in Puerto Princesa and nearly all municipalities preferring to stay with Region IV-B. Consequently, Administrative Order No. 129 was issued on August 19, 2005 to address this backlash. This order directed the abeyance of Executive Order 429 pending the approval of an implementation plan for the orderly transfer of Palawan from MIMAROPA to Region VI.[6]

The 2010 Philippine Census of Population reported the region name as 'Mimaropa' and included the province of Palawan as part of the region.[7] As of 2014[update], it is not clear whether the transfer of Palawan to region VI is still considered pending by the Philippine government. As of 2014[update], the National Statistical Coordinating Board of the Philippines continued to list Palawan province as part of the MIMAROPA region.[8][dated info]

Tagalog is widely spoken in the region. In Marinduque, the language is spoken with a unique blend of Bicolano and Visayan languages. Aside from Tagalog, there are other major languages being used by the people in different provinces and localities.

In 2007, MIMAROPA's economy surged by 9.4%, making it the fastest growing region in the country in that year.[9] It was aided by robust growth in the industrial sector which grew by 19.1% from -6.1% in 2006.[9]

MIMAROPA experienced a big slowdown in 2006, posting a decelerated growth of 2.3% from a 6.4% increase in 2005. This resulted mainly from the slump in the industry sector, which shrunk by 5.4% in 2006 from its 10.8% increase in 2005.

The agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector, which contributed 42.1% to the total regional economy, grew by 9.1% in 2006, accelerating from 3.2% the previous year. The higher production of palay, corn, other crops, livestock and fishery resulted in the accelerated growth in the total agriculture and fishery sector.

The industry sector, which contributed 38.3% to the region’s total economy, was the second largest contributor next to agriculture. Its decline of 5.4% was largely attributed to the decrease in the mining and quarrying sub-sector, which went down by 15.4% due to the reduced production of natural gas in Palawan. Mining and quarrying contributed 16.6% to the total regional economy. The positive growth in the electricity and water, construction and manufacturing sub-sectors were not able to compensate to the drop in the mining and quarrying sub-sector.

The service sector, on the other hand, posted an accelerated growth of 5.1%, which was attributed to the increase in the TCS, finance, private services, government services and trade sub-sectors, which managed to post accelerated growths of 6.0%, 5.5%, 5.1%, 5.1% and 4.7%, respectively. The other sub-sector, however, had a decelerated growth due to the slowdown in the ownership of dwelling.